Hooked On A Feeling
by Aello-ello
Summary: A debate over music tastes, a good helping of poorly hidden feelings, and one Sirius tangled up in the middle of it. Tonks/Lupin. Pure fluff.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: This story will be over three chapters, hopefully updated every Saturday**

 **I do not own Harry Potter or any of the songs I use**

Sirius raised his head from the table by a fraction, hardly daring to believe it might have finally ended.

"But Remus, you have to admit their covers of muggle songs are amazing, they add some wizarding flair to already brilliant songs!"

"Saying the songs they cover were already brilliant is questionable enough, but they certainly don't add anything of much value to them. Name one song that has any emotional depth to it."

Sirius let his head fall again, landing with a soft thunk onto his now crossed arms, his forehead hadn't approved of the table.

"They're not supposed to be all deep and profound," Tonks' voice came from across the table, mocking the words with a pretentious accent, "They're to dance to, meant to just be good fun!"

"Are you implying that songs with a real exploration of emotions or a meaningful storyline are not enjoyable?"

"Of course! You can't dance when the singer's busy telling you how miserable they are, it feels wrong."

"Ron and Hermione." Sirius suddenly declared, straightening up to address the two people currently filling his kitchen with their argument, wearily noting that it was now getting dark around them.

"It feels wrong cause you're not supposed to dance to it, you're supposed to appreciate the story that's being told." Remus replied as if Sirius hadn't spoken.

"It's like I'm not even here!" Sirius declared.

"Sorry, Sirius," said Remus, finally turning his attention to the man beside him with his eyebrows raised in challenge, a small smile playing around his lips, "I wasn't aware you had something of value to add to the conversation."

The glare Sirius gave him was enough to motivate Remus to continue, "All I heard was you naming some of the children, I'm surprised you miss them already since they only left yesterday but I'm glad you're so fond of them."

Sirius and Remus stared one another out, a silent battle to see who would back down. The familiarity of the exercise was comforting, and because Sirius could see the twinkling of amusement in Remus' eyes he conceded to break the stare first. He instead turned to face his cousin across the table, her bubble-gum pink hair lightening the gloom of the dreary kitchen, and used the moment of silence to continue his point, with the secret hope of bringing this tedious argument to a close. He couldn't face this debate of the merits and failings of the Weird Sisters continuing into the next day.

"I just wanted to make the light observation that we seem to have got rid of Ron and Hermione's endless bickering only for you two to take up the job in their place."

In the dim light of the kitchen he looked first at Tonks, then at Remus, and wondered if they got his point yet. The slightly awkward shift in the atmosphere suggested it had clicked, but the blissful silence erased any guilt Sirius might have felt about making this so.

"So in conclusion to what I have suffered through today, don't give me that look Moony, I have _suffered_. I think perhaps we could all just agree that it doesn't matter and move on."

"You pick who's right then, Sirius." Tonks declared.

"What? You can't ask me to do that, besides like I just said, it isn't important." He replied, hoping she didn't continue to push this idea.

"You know for the first time today I agree with Nymphadora, as you yourself pointed out, you've listened to the whole debate, you choose who is correct."

The confliction on Tonks' face as she battled between reprimanding Remus for using her name and accepting it because he was agreeing with her would have been amusing to Sirius were it not for the situation he now found himself in. Conscious that he risked losing a friend for the remainder of the evening, he decided on diplomacy,

" _Fine_ , if I am being forced into this, then I will say that I like both. I like the Weird Sisters, not as much as you do of course Tonks, but like you say, they're good to dance along to, and you could never have a wedding reception without at least one of their songs, plus on the note of muggle covers, that one you were playing the other day was pretty good, what was that one again?"

"Hooked on a Feeling! It's one of the best from that album!"

"Yes, that." Sirius continued, pointing dramatically as he got into his speech. "But, that said, I also agree with your taste, Moony. Nothing wrong with a good miserable song either, especially some of the Springsteen records you have, you can never go wrong with a bit of sad harmonica."

For a moment silence reigned and frankly, he felt, he should have been a politician.

"Well," declared Tonks, pushing back her chair from the table with a loud squeak, "if you're not going to give us an actual answer we can continue debating it some other time."

Sirius let out a groan of despair and allowed his head to resume its former position on the table as she gathered her coat and scarf. Remus also stood up, his manners impeccable as always, and Sirius heard her footsteps begin to make their way to the door, but soon stop rather closer to where Remus was standing than the to the doorway. Smirking to himself, Sirius kept his head on the table under the guise of dramatic agony, but in reality giving them a moment to themselves. Well, as much to themselves as it could be with him listening intently to whatever they would say, but he reasoned it was the thought that counted.

"So, see you tomorrow night then to continue this?" Sirius smirked even more at the hopeful and slightly desperate tone through Remus' voice, and wondered if Tonks could hear it too.

"Oh, I can't actually do tomorrow night, Mad Eye's got me on night shifts for the next few days, but when I'm back we'll continue it." She replied, sounding genuinely regretful.

There was nothing left to be said, and so a moment of silence followed, in which Sirius suspected Tonks was deciding how to say goodbye, before seemingly settling on just leaving as her footsteps moved towards the door again.

"See you, Sirius" she called over her shoulder.

"G'night" he mumbled, finally rising now that he was sure he wasn't preventing anything from happening. Remus moved to make some tea, before sitting down in what had formerly been Tonks seat, staring contemplatively at the table in front of him. After the incessant conversation moments before this new silence was somehow even more stifling, and Sirius found he had to break it.

"So, that was a decent evening altogether."

"Yeah"

Sirius tried again, "Tonks is a nice girl."

"Of course," Remus muttered, clearly not listening.

Just as Sirius was about to open his mouth to demand to know what going on, Remus suddenly looked right at him, eyes piercingly serious.

"You used to play the guitar, didn't you?"

Startled by this seemingly irrelevant question, he became momentarily distracted thinking of a summer between Hogwarts spent learning muggle songs on an old guitar they found in James' house, it had been his friend's idea, another crazy attempt to impress Lily no doubt but Sirius hadn't realised that at the time.

"I used to know a bit, yeah, why?"

"Teach me one of Tonks' songs."

 **AN: Come back next Saturday for chapter 2!**


	2. Chapter 2

"Right, well, let's try this then." Sirius sighed, rubbing a calloused hand over his face.

Remus had been insistent that they start as soon as possible, and so Sirius found himself dragged out of bed far too early for his liking by an impatient Remus who had already returned from his trip to the nearby charity shop to buy a muggle guitar. He was seated once again in the grimy kitchen of Grimmauld Place, this time with the morning sun trying admirably to force its way in, only to succeed in making the place look even more greasy and decrepit. He had chosen to sit at the head of the table today, due to his new status as a teacher of music, while Remus perched on the edge of one of the Black family chairs with the newly acquired guitar, holding as though it might explode at any time.

"First of all, you need to relax a bit, you look like you're frightened of it. Relax your shoulder, lean back –"

"Sirius, is this really important to playing the instrument?" Remus interrupted, raising a sceptical eyebrow.

"Of course it's important, are you questioning my teaching skills?" Sirius replied indignantly, setting one of his heavy boots against the guitar and pressing it away from him to force Remus to lean back on the seat.

"As a former teacher I do think I'm qualified to." Remus shot back, but Sirius was glad to see that he was failing at his attempt not to laugh as he was forced back by the guitar pressing against his chest.

"Just loosen your grip on the neck a bit… there you go, you look almost sensible."

Remus sighed wearily, but Sirius was now satisfied that they could move on. He started to explain how to do the first chord, originally by demonstrating with his own hand, later by forcing Remus' fingers on to the correct strings.

"There, now strum that."

The sound this action produced was scratchy and harsh, some notes were missing from Remus not pressing it properly and some because he was too close to the fret wire, yet despite Sirius explaining this they didn't seem to be able to resolve the problem.

"Ok, well, we'll move on to the next chord anyway, it might work better."

"And did that chord have a name, Padfoot?" Sirius clenched his firsts in annoyance, both at Remus' tone and at his own forgetfulness, but he would be professional about this. He was as much the politician as he had been the night before.

"That's a G." he muttered. He could feel Remus' smug expression burning the side of his face.

"The next chord you need is D, it looks like a triangle, like this," showing the same with his hand, "but you only play the bottom four strings if I remember right, so don't strum the top two."

This chord produced a sound almost indistinguishable from the first. Sirius regretted agreeing to do this.

* * *

Sirius was pleased to discover that by late afternoon Remus had started to play chords that sounded different depending on which one he was attempting, but it would need a lot more practice before it would turn into something anyone could sing along to.

Setting his crossed ankles on the ancient table, Sirius dropped his head back against the chair in a lazy attempt to stretch the tension out and lamented once again the frankly ridiculous hour at which he been forced to wake.

"Maybe we could take a break for the rest of today?" He suggested hopefully.

"I suppose we should," Remus replied.

"So the real question, Moony, is why go to the bother of it all?" Sirius asked, with deliberate casualness, turning his head to watch his friend.

Remus looked up sharply, before looking away just as quickly when met with Sirius' calm stare. Stalling for time, he made a show of carefully setting the guitar to balance against the table before answering,

"Just thought I might learn a bit."

Sirius chuckled, before asking through what he knew to be a poorly contained smirk,

"In that case, why exactly am I teaching you a wizarding band you don't like's cover of a muggle song you also don't like, but that does coincidentally happen to be one of the favourite songs of our friend Miss Tonks?"

"I'm broadening my musical horizons." Remus stated calmly, but his composure fell away when Sirius began laughing.

"Aw, come on, Moony," he laughed, "you don't actually expect me to believe that, do you?"

Examining the table more than perhaps was wise considering the many generations of poor cleaning standards that it had encountered, Remus shifted awkwardly in his seat, reminding Sirius strikingly of the skinny, fair-haired teenager he'd once been.

"What do you want me to say?" Remus muttered quietly, continuing to address the mould.

Abruptly Sirius swung his feet down to the floor again and leant forward, resting his elbows on the table. He waited until Remus looked up and caught his eye before continuing.

"I want you to admit you're doing this to get Tonks' attention."

Remus dropped his gaze to the table.

"Because you like her."

This time Sirius got the reaction he was expecting, as Remus flew up out of his seat, knocking the guitar over in the process. As it clattered to the ground the empty noise echoed around the kitchen, until it finally stopped and a tense silence filled its place. The two men stared one another out, just as they had the night before. It was Remus who backed down first.

"I'm going to continue practising upstairs." He declared, and picked up the guitar from the floor before walking towards the door.

"Not answering is the same as admitting!" Sirius called after him, laying his feet back on the table, but he knew he didn't need to, Remus understood perfectly.

 **AN: Slightly shorter chapter this week, and don't worry, Tonks will be back next week! Massive thanks to everyone following this story, see you all next Saturday for the final chapter!**


	3. Chapter 3

It was several days before Sirius saw Tonks again. He had trudged downstairs for a meal that would be both breakfast and lunch in one to find her bubble-gum pink hair brightening up the kitchen, as she sat drinking tea from a questionably clean mug.

"I didn't know where you were so I just made myself some tea, sorry." She said instead of a greeting, as if it had been only hours since they last spoke.

Sirius smiled at the familiarity and waved it off, beginning to open cupboard doors at random in the quest for something edible. There were few moments in his life when he missed living with Molly Weasley, but this was always one of them.

"How's old Mad Eye?" Sirius asked, poking a bag on the back corner of a shelf to see if it moved.

"Same as always," she replied, smiling fondly, "still thinks everyone's out to get him. Can't make him a cup of tea without him checking it for poison."

Sirius laughed, before grabbing a dusty tea cup bearing the Black family crest from one of the shelves and holding it over his eye,

"Constant vigilance, Tonks!" he growled, "Constant vigilance!"

Her laughter filled the room as Sirius resumed his hunt.

"Is Remus not about?" she asked with forced casualness.

Sirius spun around to face her, making no attempt to hide the smirk on his face, "My company not good enough for you, cousin? Or is it Remus you really came here to see?"

She took a long drink of her tea, but Sirius knew it was an attempt to hide her blush behind her cup. Laughing, Sirius turned back to the irritatingly empty cupboard,

"I haven't seen him yet today," he answered. He had, however, heard him, but Tonks didn't need to know that yet. Sirius took a deep breath to fight down awkwardness that was slowly choking him before continuing.

"He's a good guy, y'know, Tonks. He… um, just don't… just be nice to him, yeah?" Sirius told the cupboard, thoroughly regretting attempting this conversation, but knowing he'd regret it more if he didn't. He finally turned to look at his cousin, unsure how she would react to this complete contradiction to their usual interactions, but was relieved to find her nodding in a slightly embarrassed but understanding way. He let out a breath he hadn't realised he had been holding.

"So," Sirius said, finally abandoning his search and slouching into the chair opposite her, "when does it look like there's going to be another Order meeting then? Hasn't been one for ages now."

"There was one barely a week ago, Sirius," she laughed. "You just want to be cooked for again!"

With this the conversation returned to the comfortable ease they normally had, until a sound now familiar to Sirius began to drift down to the kitchen from somewhere above them.

"Is that… is that a guitar?" Tonks questioned the moulding ceiling.

Sirius didn't answer, and instead began to sing along, feeling an bubbling sense of pride at the music.

"And I'm high on believing, that you're in love with ME! I said I'm hooked on a feeling!"

He determinedly belted out the words as loudly as he could.

"FILTHY HALF BREEDS TARNISHING THE ANCIENT AND MOST NOBLE HOUSE OF BLACK WITH THEIR DIN!"

Both Sirius and the guitar stopped abruptly as Mrs Black's portrait improvised a rather less pleasant verse.

"Don't remember that being in the song," Sirius muttered under his breath as he ran to cover the painting again, the sound of his footsteps mixing with the sound of another pair of shoes charging down the stairs. He returned to the kitchen a moment later, hauling the guitar carrying werewolf with him,

"This is your moment." He said so that only Remus could hear, and then retreated to the other end of the kitchen to watch this play out.

"Tonks! You're back already! I thought you would still be sleeping off all those night shifts?" Remus was poor at disguising his joy, which Sirius suspected might just work in his favour this time.

"Yeah, I normally would be but they weren't all that busy this time, so I'm not as tired." She replied.

"That's good."

The conversation trailed off awkwardly, and Sirius wanted to bang their heads together.

"That song is sounding really good now, Remus," he prompted, "Even the old bat liked it."

"You were playing that?" Tonks questioned sceptically, clearly unsure if Sirius was joking or not. Remus lifted the guitar awkwardly from where he had been holding it by his side and waved it around a bit, laughing a little to cover the silence.

"But why? You hate that music." Tonks was watching him with wide, curious eyes, but something in the tone of her voice made Sirius suspect she had guessed already. The noise of the guitar scuffing along the floor as Remus rocked back and forth on his feet was the only sound in the kitchen.

"Because you like that music," Remus eventually replied, so quietly Sirius had to strain to hear it.

"You learnt it because I like it?" Tonks asked softly, walking over to stand right in front of Remus, who only nodded and Sirius saw that he was once again examining the mould on the table. Sirius both realised what was about to happen and saw that his friend didn't, as Tonks placed a hand on the side of Remus' head and gently pressed her lips to his. It was a sweet kiss, but somehow one that promised so much more than just attraction, and it was that more than the action itself that made Sirius suddenly feel that he was intruding on a fiercely private moment. Just as he was beginning to work out how he was going to make his escape with dignity and without ruining their moment, Tonks broke away, laughing a little at the dumbfounded expression she had caused. Wrapping her hand over Remus' on the neck of the guitar, she lifted it off the ground.

"Play it for me!" She demanded excitedly, before turning to look at Sirius at the end of the table, "We'll sing!" and he couldn't help but smile back at her. Remus had recovered his senses, and so, laughing, began to play the song. Sirius and Tonks sang along, dancing around the massive table, ignoring Mrs Black's screeching insults, and singing themselves hoarse they shouted,

"I… am hooked on a feeling! And I'm high on believing, that you're in love with meeeeee, I'm hooked on a feeling…"

 **AN: And there it ends. I want to say a huge thank you to everyone that has reviewed, followed or favourited this story! I've had a blast writing it and I'm really glad to have been able to share this experience with all of you!**


End file.
